Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
World Giraffe Day, Strawberry Moons, Food Waste Plans, Heat Waves, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday and World Giraffe Day! There are several reasons to celebrate giraffes, the tallest land animals on Earth. Giraffes are herbivores so they only eat plants, which is where they get much of their water from, only needing to drink every few days. Just like human fingerprints, no two giraffe have the same coat pattern. They travel in groups called towers, and the males fight using a technique called “necking”. NASA space scientists have been studying giraffe skin and blood-flow so they can apply what they learn from it to the construction of spacesuits.
Also this week was the summer solstice, the longest day in the northern hemisphere, where the sun reached its highest and northernmost point in the sky. As the majority of the country is starting summer off in a heatwave, this year it also features a full strawberry moon tonight. This is the first time in 40 years that it falls on the first day of summer. The moon gets its name because it’s peak season for harvesting strawberries in the Northeast.
Keep reading below for more sustainability news!
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
THE WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES A STRATEGY TO KEEP EDIBLE FOOD OUT OF LANDFILLS
The White House has announced a national strategy to address food waste in the U.S., where 30% of the food supply is discarded. This waste contributes to substantial greenhouse gas emissions when it decomposes in landfills. The strategy aims to extend the shelf life of perishable foods through research, increase food donations, enhance composting facilities, and change behaviors among businesses and individuals to reduce waste. The goal is to turn food waste into useful commodities like compost, biogas, or animal feed.
Food waste occurs for various reasons, including farm-level losses due to market conditions or failure to meet retailer specifications, stores and restaurants discarding unsold food, and households throwing away food that is still safe to eat because of confusing "best by" labels. Some progress has been made; for instance, eight supermarket chains reported a 25% reduction in food waste from 2019 to 2022. Innovative solutions, including start-ups and artificial intelligence, are being used to improve food waste management.
The plan also includes funding research into technologies to extend food shelf life, investing in consumer education to reduce household food waste, and collaborating with farmers and crop insurance agents to minimize on-farm food loss. Despite these initiatives, the strategy does not introduce new regulations and falls short compared to stricter laws in some other countries and U.S. states. For example, while the U.S. set a goal in 2015 to cut food waste by half by 2030, per capita food waste actually increased between 2015 and 2019.
KATHY HOCHUL DELAYS CONGESTION PRICING
New York Governor Kathy Hochul's decision to indefinitely delay congestion pricing in New York City represents a significant setback for climate policy in the United States. This move, criticized as one of the worst climate decisions by a Democrat in recent memory, undermines efforts to develop climate-friendly urban environments and rapid transit infrastructure, potentially deterring other cities from adopting similar measures.
Congestion pricing, a strategy successfully implemented in cities like London and Singapore, charges vehicles to enter crowded city areas during peak times, encouraging public transit use and reducing pollution. Hochul's decision alienates her allies, including environmental groups and transit advocates, while delighting Republican adversaries. It also creates a $1 billion hole in the transit authority's budget, which Hochul plans to fill by raising state taxes, shifting the financial burden to New York businesses and residents.
The delay is a blow to climate politics, as transportation is a major source of carbon emissions in the U.S. In cities, promoting public transit and reducing car usage is more effective than transitioning to electric vehicles. By halting congestion pricing, Hochul hinders a policy that could significantly reduce emissions and improve urban air quality.
WHY THIS NEW METHOD OF GROWING FOOD ON MARS MATTERS MORE ON EARTH
Rebeca Gonçalves' research at Wageningen University has shown that intercropping, an ancient Maya farming technique where different crops are grown together, is effective even in Martian-like soil. This method significantly boosted tomato yields and plant growth, although carrots and peas grew better separately due to limited nutrients in the simulated Martian regolith.
Intercropping, though common in parts of Latin America, Africa, and China, is underused globally. It offers benefits such as requiring less land and water and combating climate change effects on degraded soils, which constitute 40% of the world's agricultural land. This research indicates that techniques developed for Mars could also help revive Earth's nutrient-poor and degraded farmlands, especially in areas affected by climate change, like sub-Saharan Africa and northern China, where water scarcity and volatile rainfall patterns have reduced crop yields. Using space agriculture techniques to benefit Earth's drought-stricken regions has great potential, as long as there is enough funding and political will to support these advancements.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
Long-awaited offshore wind hub breaks ground in Brooklyn.
Heat waves are making restaurant kitchen’s unsafe. Workers are fighting back.
The Department of the Interior just announced $130 million in funding to revitalize land in coal communities. It’s part of a larger plan to clean up legacy pollution and create good-paying jobs and economic opportunities for coal communities amidst the clean energy transition.
Geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy announced it will develop a 115 MW geothermal power plant for NV Energy (a Nevada utility) and sell electricity to Google via a PPA.
Birds and bees in California will now have more protections from harmful pesticides. These protections will pertain to “Department lands”, more than 1 million acres of fish and wildlife habitat, ecological reserves and other lands.
The U.S. installed more solar capacity in the first quarter of 2024 than it did in all of 2018.
Take a tour of the eco house of the future.
US EPA is limiting a toxic chemical (N-Methylpyrrolidone, or NMP) linked to miscarriages, reduced fertility, and other health problems in hundreds of products. The chemical is a solvent used by both consumers and workers, ranging from arts and crafts supplies to semiconductors.